Dovrefjell Musk Ox Trail (Long Trail) - Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park

Beautiful hiking trail with amazing views 🤩 only the oxen were hiding during our hiking time 🤪

Norway's first Christian king, Olav, walked from Oslo to Trondheim (for whatever reason). He was later canonized, and this path became a pilgrimage route, as important to Scandinavians as the Way of St. James is to the rest of Europe. It was restored in the 1990s and is now a national heritage site. Length: 660 km

On the way to our next stopover, we wanted to stop at the musk oxen in Dovrefjell. While you're there...😉 You can find detailed information on this website: https://dovrefjell-sunndalsfjella.no/en/musk-oxen/the-musk-ox-trail/ As for the weather... Oh, let's forget it! Open your backpack, put everything in and off you go. You have to say, it's a "liberating" feeling when you hike across a mountain like this. You get a sense of the vastness, size and landscape that can't be captured in photos. The path itself is very easy to walk, but there were a few muddy spots due to the rainy weather of the last few days. So we wore high/sturdy hiking boots and were glad about that. And then there was the matter of the musk oxen... Unfortunately we didn't see any, but there might be another opportunity tomorrow. In any case, you will be well informed about the area, plants and animals via information boards. We enjoyed the tour despite the "permanent stiff breeze" and were impressed by the landscape.

The tour begins along Kongeveien/Pilgrimsweg. At the beginning of June, it's worth wearing ankle-high shoes, as there are still snowfields and water spots to cross. Unfortunately, I didn't have them, so I couldn't cross the Blæsterbekken River after about a kilometer...instead, I followed the trail to the left for another kilometer until I was able to cross the river and find my way back to the Pilgrimsweg (I kept trying to find a place where I could cross the Blæsterbekken, hence the somewhat zigzagging route 😅). A musk ox was grazing shortly before the end of the tour. With or without a musk ox sighting, I think it's a beautiful hike.

The last two kilometers seemed long! But what a thrill to be able to observe musk oxen!

A fantastically beautiful hike through the mountains at 6 degrees Celsius 🤩 There are about 300 musk oxen living in Dovrefjell, but they were well hidden today – despite the binoculars 🙃 Perhaps that's better – they can reach speeds of up to 60 km/h 😅

This was an interesting, adventurous and exciting hike! If you’re in the neighbourhood…